The Day, 5/12/06

1. While it may seem early for tuna news, we nonetheless have the first confirmed catch of yellowfin out in Block Canyon to write about, that information from Roger at J&B Tackle.
2. Last week a group found a 21-degree temperature break around The Fishtails (slang for Block Canyon) and trolled up four yellows to 45 pounds on Jet Heads and Green Machines. Nobody got out since that one trip due to the prolonged nor'easter but other boats are geared up and ready to go once the weather settles.
3. On the inshore front, the local charter boat fleet will be going in the water with first trips soon thereafter. There are loads of small bass in the rivers and along the shoreline plus the first catches of single numbers of larger bass from The Race and Gut.
4. As of this report there was no consistency to the fishing in the latter spots. Two boats that ran to Montauk for fluke on different days had six keepers one trip and a large numbers the next but very few keeper-sized fish. A third boat tried off the southwest corner of Block for 40 fluke, culling a limit for the day.
5. Al Golinski of Misquamicut said some of his friends put in their time but caught a couple 4-pound fluke from outside the Pink House since last report. Shore anglers are jigging up loads of squid from the Rhode Island salt ponds west to Stonington Harbor.
6. Capt. Don's Tackle in Charlestown said they never sold so many squid jigs as this week, those literally being bought in lots of four to six to people eager to fill a bucket with squid for the table or to freeze for use later on as strip bait for fluke. Quonny Pond is a hot spot but you might be able to jig them up from any dock in the evening or after dark from Point Judith to Stonington.
7. Two locals had some keeper fluke in 35-40 feet of water off Quonny on Thursday before misty rain and increasing winds drove them back in. Another bagged a 20-pound bass from shore at the Quonny launch ramp on a plug from Gag's Grabbers. Tautog are moving into the Quonny Breachway on the flood tide and fly rodders are on the lookout for more worm hatches in the ponds.
8. Don at King Cove was busy even on a rainy weekday as people get their boats ready for launching. The Pawcatuck River has schoolies for the shore and boat fishermen, some of those just shy of 10 pounds caught during the day in Cemetery Cove in between rain showers. Fluke catches are just fair at this point said Don. His customers worked very hard for some keepers in 40 feet of water off the Rhode Island beaches.
9. Moving along to Mystic, Allen Fee at Shaffers reported a lot of variety in the catches over this past week. Pete Simlick and his daughter Kate along with her friend Sara Kormier landed a small catch of winter flounder at the mouth of the Mystic River while two others caught sea-run trout, one from West Mystic the other mixed in with some school stripers off the Mystic Shipyard.
10. Bill Bixby visited a friend in our area long enough to head out to the river for a 24-inch school bass and two weakfish on a white grub. Mike Page and Bob Hughes of Ledyard fished around the Gwenmor Marina for about 10 small stripers apiece.
11. Jigging for squid must be hot someplace, said Allen, because he can't keep squid jigs in stock. The fluke catch so far for the few boats out trying was some shorts off Rhode Island. The last piece of news concerned the first bluefish of the season caught by Michelle McIntier of Mystic from the dock along Cottrell Street.
12. Capt. Brad Glas of the Hel-Cat sent in his first e-mail of the season saying the cod fishing last weekend saw some very nice weather for a change along with a mixed bag of cod, hake, out, mackerel and the first bluefish of the year. All this was from an area roughly 30 minutes short of where they normally fish, an area that “has not produced in years.”
13. The winner of last month's big fish award goes to Brian Miller of Wolcott with a 36-pound cod. The boat will said on Saturday the 13th but not Mother's Day, reserved for taking mom out to dinner.
14. Capt. Jack Balint at the Fish Connection observed Norwich Harbor and the section of the Thames River to the south was full of large bunker, the first time they've seen such in many years. Fluking right now is better at Peconic or Montauk than Rhode Island. You can still catch some winter flounder in the Niantic River or off the airport runway lights in Groton. Schoolie bass are up and down the length of the Thames along with some small blues now opposite Dow Chemical. The first scattered bass have started to come from both Valiant and The Gut but the fishery lacks numbers at this time. You might also catch a bass or two from the shore at Eastern Point Beach.
15. Stephanie Cramer spent her fishing week catching very small stripers wading from the shores of the upper Thames and on Saturday joined a group at Quonny Pond, fishing with author Ken Abrams, catching a 25-inch bass at the edge of the channel. A co-worker at the Mystic Aquarium landed his first keeper striper of the season, casting from shore along a Rhode Island salt pond.
16. Hillyers Tackle in Waterford has news about lots of schoolies for the shore anglers including a 42-inch bass caught around the bridges the week before. The small boat flounder fleet was kept at the dock or on their trailers with all the wind and rain. Overall the waterfront is still on the quiet side thanks to lots of cool weather.
17. Sherwood Lincoln will have his boat in the water along the Niantic River this week. He heard about some schools of menhaden in Niantic Bay and a few fluke from inside Fishers Island Sound but much better results at Greenport. He predicts numbers of bass in The Gut by May 18th.
18. Mark down at River's End said the schoolies in the lower Connecticut River are now sharing space with the first of the bluefish that arrived about mid-week, cold wind or not. You might land some flounder along the sandy beaches off Westbrook but catches to date at the Spindle on the flood tide are very, very poor. [Tim Coleman is The Day's saltwater fishing columnist]